Former KZN municipal official gets 5 years for R1m fraud

The Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has jailed a former municipal worker for five years for defrauding the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma municipality of R1 million.

According to police, Rosemary Zebani Mabi, the former deputy chief financial officer at the municipality in Creighton, colluded with the financial clerk between July and November 2013 and made fictitious payments to suppliers who had not conducted any work.

The money was actually for her personal use.

“The municipality suffered a total loss of R1 010 000.

She was arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team in September 2018 and was convicted after several court appearances,” said police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase.

In another case in KwaZulu-Natal, two AbaQulusi municipality councillors are expected to appear in the Vryheid Magistrate’s Court on 28 June for allegedly bribing a member of a rival political party to refrain from participating in a voting process so that their party would be in charge of the council.

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Nkwalase said the incident took place in 2018.

The case was struck off the roll in October 2020 for further investigations.”The docket was sent back to the Director of Public Prosecutions who reinstated the charges against the two after a thorough investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team in Vryheid.”

The two councillors, aged 46 and 61, have been summoned to appear in the Vryheid Magistrate’s Court on 28 June on corruption charges.